Piggyback riders: Funny photos of lazy hitchhiking animals

This remarkable shot was taken by Martin Le-May while he was walking with his wife through Hornchurch Country Park in Havering, London. The pair heard “distressed squawking” before witnessing the woodpecker’s “struggle for life” as the weasel clung to its back. The amateur photographer from Essex told ITV that he “feared the worst” for the bird, which appeared to be “unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface” before it flew in their direction. Fortunately for the woodpecker the weasel fell off and it flapped its way to safety.